CHAPTER XXIV

TARS TARKAS FINDS A FRIEND

About noon I passed low over a great dead city of ancient
Mars, and as I skimmed out across the plain beyond I
came full upon several thousand green warriors engaged in
a terrific battle. Scarcely had I seen them than a volley of
shots was directed at me, and with the almost unfailing
accuracy of their aim my little craft was instantly a ruined
wreck, sinking erratically to the ground.

I fell almost directly in the center of the fierce combat,
among warriors who had not seen my approach so busily
were they engaged in life and death struggles. The men
were fighting on foot with long-swords, while an occasional
shot from a sharpshooter on the outskirts of the conflict
would bring down a warrior who might for an instant separate
himself from the entangled mass.

As my machine sank among them I realized that it was fight
or die, with good chances of dying in any event, and so I
struck the ground with drawn long-sword ready to defend
myself as I could.

I fell beside a huge monster who was engaged with three
antagonists, and as I glanced at his fierce face, filled with
the light of battle, I recognized Tars Tarkas the Thark. He
did not see me, as I was a trifle behind him, and just then
the three warriors opposing him, and whom I recognized
as Warhoons, charged simultaneously. The mighty fellow
made quick work of one of them, but in stepping back for
another thrust he fell over a dead body behind him and
was down and at the mercy of his foes in an instant. Quick
as lightning they were upon him, and Tars Tarkas would
have been gathered to his fathers in short order had I not
sprung before his prostrate form and engaged his adversaries.
I had accounted for one of them when the mighty Thark
regained his feet and quickly settled the other.

He gave me one look, and a slight smile touched his grim
lip as, touching my shoulder, he said,

"I would scarcely recognize you, John Carter, but there
is no other mortal upon Barsoom who would have done
what you have for me. I think I have learned that there is
such a thing as friendship, my friend."

He said no more, nor was there opportunity, for the
Warhoons were closing in about us, and together we fought,
shoulder to shoulder, during all that long, hot afternoon,
until the tide of battle turned and the remnant of the fierce
Warhoon horde fell back upon their thoats, and fled into
the gathering darkness.

Ten thousand men had been engaged in that titanic struggle,
and upon the field of battle lay three thousand dead.
Neither side asked or gave quarter, nor did they attempt
to take prisoners.

On our return to the city after the battle we had gone
directly to Tars Tarkas' quarters, where I was left alone
while the chieftain attended the customary council which
immediately follows an engagement.

As I sat awaiting the return of the green warrior I heard
something move in an adjoining apartment, and as I glanced
up there rushed suddenly upon me a huge and hideous
creature which bore me backward upon the pile of silks and
furs upon which I had been reclining. It was Woola--faithful,
loving Woola. He had found his way back to Thark and,
as Tars Tarkas later told me, had gone immediately to my
former quarters where he had taken up his pathetic and
seemingly hopeless watch for my return.

"Tal Hajus knows that you are here, John Carter," said
Tars Tarkas, on his return from the jeddak's quarters;
"Sarkoja saw and recognized you as we were returning. Tal
Hajus has ordered me to bring you before him tonight. I
have ten thoats, John Carter; you may take your choice
from among them, and I will accompany you to the nearest
waterway that leads to Helium. Tars Tarkas may be a cruel
green warrior, but he can be a friend as well. Come, we
must start."

"And when you return, Tars Tarkas?" I asked.

"The wild calots, possibly, or worse," he replied. "Unless
I should chance to have the opportunity I have so long
waited of battling with Tal Hajus."

"We will stay, Tars Tarkas, and see Tal Hajus tonight.
You shall not sacrifice yourself, and it may be that tonight
you can have the chance you wait."

He objected strenuously, saying that Tal Hajus often flew
into wild fits of passion at the mere thought of the blow I
had dealt him, and that if ever he laid his hands upon me
I would be subjected to the most horrible tortures.

While we were eating I repeated to Tars Tarkas the story
which Sola had told me that night upon the sea bottom
during the march to Thark.

He said but little, but the great muscles of his face
worked in passion and in agony at recollection of the
horrors which had been heaped upon the only thing he had
ever loved in all his cold, cruel, terrible existence.

He no longer demurred when I suggested that we go before
Tal Hajus, only saying that he would like to speak to
Sarkoja first. At his request I accompanied him to her
quarters, and the look of venomous hatred she cast upon
me was almost adequate recompense for any future misfortunes
this accidental return to Thark might bring me.

"Sarkoja," said Tars Tarkas, "forty years ago you were
instrumental in bringing about the torture and death of a
woman named Gozava. I have just discovered that the warrior
who loved that woman has learned of your part in the transaction.
He may not kill you, Sarkoja, it is not our custom, but there is
nothing to prevent him tying one end of a strap about your neck
and the other end to a wild thoat, merely to test your fitness
to survive and help perpetuate our race. Having heard that he
would do this on the morrow, I thought it only right to warn you,
for I am a just man. The river Iss is but a short pilgrimage,
Sarkoja. Come, John Carter."

The next morning Sarkoja was gone, nor was she ever seen after.

In silence we hastened to the jeddak's palace, where we were
immediately admitted to his presence; in fact, he could
scarcely wait to see me and was standing erect upon his
platform glowering at the entrance as I came in.

"Strap him to that pillar," he shrieked. "We shall see who
it is dares strike the mighty Tal Hajus. Heat the irons; with
my own hands I shall burn the eyes from his head that he
may not pollute my person with his vile gaze."

"Chieftains of Thark," I cried, turning to the assembled
council and ignoring Tal Hajus, "I have been a chief among
you, and today I have fought for Thark shoulder to shoulder
with her greatest warrior. You owe me, at least, a hearing.
I have won that much today. You claim to be just people--"

"Silence," roared Tal Hajus. "Gag the creature and bind
him as I command."

"Justice, Tal Hajus," exclaimed Lorquas Ptomel. "Who are
you to set aside the customs of ages among the Tharks."

"Yes, justice!" echoed a dozen voices, and so, while Tal
Hajus fumed and frothed, I continued.

"You are a brave people and you love bravery, but where
was your mighty jeddak during the fighting today? I did
not see him in the thick of battle; he was not there. He
rends defenseless women and little children in his lair, but
how recently has one of you seen him fight with men? Why,
even I, a midget beside him, felled him with a single blow
of my fist. Is it of such that the Tharks fashion their jeddaks?
There stands beside me now a great Thark, a mighty warrior
and a noble man. Chieftains, how sounds, Tars Tarkas,
Jeddak of Thark?"

A roar of deep-toned applause greeted this suggestion.

"It but remains for this council to command, and Tal Hajus
must prove his fitness to rule. Were he a brave man he would
invite Tars Tarkas to combat, for he does not love him,
but Tal Hajus is afraid; Tal Hajus, your jeddak, is a coward.
With my bare hands I could kill him, and he knows it."

After I ceased there was tense silence, as all eyes were
riveted upon Tal Hajus. He did not speak or move, but the
blotchy green of his countenance turned livid, and the froth
froze upon his lips.

"Tal Hajus," said Lorquas Ptomel in a cold, hard voice,
"never in my long life have I seen a jeddak of the Tharks
so humiliated. There could be but one answer to this arraignment.
We wait it." And still Tal Hajus stood as though electrified.

There were twenty chieftains about the rostrum, and
twenty swords flashed high in assent.

There was no alternative. That decree was final, and so
Tal Hajus drew his long-sword and advanced to meet Tars Tarkas.

The combat was soon over, and, with his foot upon the neck of
the dead monster, Tars Tarkas became jeddak among the Tharks.

His first act was to make me a full-fledged chieftain with
the rank I had won by my combats the first few weeks
of my captivity among them.

Seeing the favorable disposition of the warriors toward
Tars Tarkas, as well as toward me, I grasped the opportunity
to enlist them in my cause against Zodanga. I told Tars Tarkas
the story of my adventures, and in a few words had explained
to him the thought I had in mind.

"John Carter has made a proposal," he said, addressing
the council, "which meets with my sanction. I shall put it
to you briefly. Dejah Thoris, the Princess of Helium, who
was our prisoner, is now held by the jeddak of Zodanga,
whose son she must wed to save her country from devastation
at the hands of the Zodangan forces.

"John Carter suggests that we rescue her and return her
to Helium. The loot of Zodanga would be magnificent, and
I have often thought that had we an alliance with the people
of Helium we could obtain sufficient assurance of sustenance
to permit us to increase the size and frequency of our hatchings,
and thus become unquestionably supreme among the green men of
all Barsoom. What say you?"

It was a chance to fight, an opportunity to loot, and they
rose to the bait as a speckled trout to a fly.

For Tharks they were wildly enthusiastic, and before another half
hour had passed twenty mounted messengers were speeding across
dead sea bottoms to call the hordes together for the expedition.

In three days we were on the march toward Zodanga,
one hundred thousand strong, as Tars Tarkas had been able
to enlist the services of three smaller hordes on the promise
of the great loot of Zodanga.

At the head of the column I rode beside the great Thark
while at the heels of my mount trotted my beloved Woola.

We traveled entirely by night, timing our marches so that
we camped during the day at deserted cities where, even
to the beasts, we were all kept indoors during the daylight
hours. On the march Tars Tarkas, through his remarkable
ability and statesmanship, enlisted fifty thousand more warriors
from various hordes, so that, ten days after we set out we halted
at midnight outside the great walled city of Zodanga, one hundred
and fifty thousand strong.

The fighting strength and efficiency of this horde of
ferocious green monsters was equivalent to ten times
their number of red men. Never in the history of Barsoom,
Tars Tarkas told me, had such a force of green warriors marched
to battle together. It was a monstrous task to keep even a
semblance of harmony among them, and it was a marvel to
me that he got them to the city without a mighty battle
among themselves.

But as we neared Zodanga their personal quarrels were
submerged by their greater hatred for the red men, and
especially for the Zodangans, who had for years waged a
ruthless campaign of extermination against the green men,
directing special attention toward despoiling their incubators.

Now that we were before Zodanga the task of obtaining
entry to the city devolved upon me, and directing Tars
Tarkas to hold his forces in two divisions out of earshot
of the city, with each division opposite a large gateway, I
took twenty dismounted warriors and approached one of
the small gates that pierced the walls at short intervals.
These gates have no regular guard, but are covered by
sentries, who patrol the avenue that encircles the city just
within the walls as our metropolitan police patrol their
beats.

The walls of Zodanga are seventy-five feet in height and
fifty feet thick. They are built of enormous blocks of
carborundum, and the task of entering the city seemed,
to my escort of green warriors, an impossibility.
The fellows who had been detailed to accompany me were
of one of the smaller hordes, and therefore did not know me.

Placing three of them with their faces to the wall and arms locked,
I commanded two more to mount to their shoulders, and a sixth I
ordered to climb upon the shoulders of the upper two. The head
of the topmost warrior towered over forty feet from the ground.

In this way, with ten warriors, I built a series of three
steps from the ground to the shoulders of the topmost man.
Then starting from a short distance behind them I ran
swiftly up from one tier to the next, and with a final bound
from the broad shoulders of the highest I clutched the top
of the great wall and quietly drew myself to its broad expanse.
After me I dragged six lengths of leather from an equal number
of my warriors. These lengths we had previously fastened together,
and passing one end to the topmost warrior I lowered the other end
cautiously over the opposite side of the wall toward the avenue below.
No one was in sight, so, lowering myself to the end of my leather strap,
I dropped the remaining thirty feet to the pavement below.

I had learned from Kantos Kan the secret of opening
these gates, and in another moment my twenty great fighting
men stood within the doomed city of Zodanga.

I found to my delight that I had entered at the lower
boundary of the enormous palace grounds. The building
itself showed in the distance a blaze of glorious light, and
on the instant I determined to lead a detachment of warriors
directly within the palace itself, while the balance of
the great horde was attacking the barracks of the soldiery.

Dispatching one of my men to Tars Tarkas for a detail
of fifty Tharks, with word of my intentions, I ordered ten
warriors to capture and open one of the great gates while
with the nine remaining I took the other. We were to do
our work quietly, no shots were to be fired and no general
advance made until I had reached the palace with my fifty
Tharks. Our plans worked to perfection. The two sentries
we met were dispatched to their fathers upon the banks of
the lost sea of Korus, and the guards at both gates followed
them in silence.